The Way I Are
by The Girl With The Silly Smile
Summary: When you realize the person you least expected is the only one you can lean on, you learn to expect the unexpected. R
1. Chapter 1

_**The Way I Are**_

* * *

Chapter One

* * *

I've always wanted to be an Auror. It may seem a bit strange after spending seven years of my life chasing the same dark wizard that I would choose to do the same in profession, but it truly is what I wanted.

What I didn't exactly wish for was the partner I was assigned. I was hoping to be assigned Ron as my partner, but of course, that wasn't in the cards.

And that is in direct correlation to how I got where I am now. Sitting in a too-small office space, across from Draco Malfoy, engaged in the most childish staring contest I've ever known.

Draco raises an eyebrow, attempting to make me laugh, but it doesn't work. In return, I send him a wide-eyed 'fish' face, as my nephew, Hugo, likes to call it.

"Really, _Potter_? Are we a pair of two year olds?" Malfoy sneers, returning his attention to the scroll of parchment he'd been examining before our game began.

"I'm surely not. You, however..." I drawl, picking up a quill to scrawl out my signature on what could quite possibly be the most important piece of paper I've ever signed.

I've been asked for my autograph dozens—if not hundreds—of times, but this isn't an autograph. It's the last step in finalizing my divorce from one Mrs. Ginevra Weasley-Potter. Yes, she kept her maiden name, hyphenating Potter onto it like it meant next to nothing to her.

Don't misunderstand. Ginny and I were sincerely in love. We truly were. But, as she claims, my work began to consume me, to the point where I have no further interest in her. I suppose that could be true. I have become quite immersed in my work, but all married couples must have jobs to earn their living, right?

"Where's your head, Potter?" Malfoy asks, presumably noticing I'm not quite myself today.

Myself being the snide, snarky and sarcastic partner Malfoy has become accustomed to working with.

Malfoy has become my way of releasing life's little annoyances. I'll insult him and he'll follow up with a witty retort. It's become something of a therapy for my distress over my divorce.

"On my shoulders, Malfoy, can't you see?"

Malfoy rolls his eyes, checking his diamond encrusted wrist watch to no doubt know how much longer he must endure my company.

We're not friends. We still have animosity due to the war. We have an unspoken truce due to his saving my life at the Manor and my saving his in the fire. That is all.

We've worked together, in this same configuration, in this same office for one year, two months and six days.

It was more than a struggle at first, but due to Malfoy's pride and my natural instinct to give everyone a chance, even if they don't deserve it, we've stayed partners. Partners, but not friends.

* * *

"Morning, Harry," the front desk clerk at the office says, as she does every morning, buzzing me into the building itself.

"Good morning, Emily," I smile at her, as I do every morning.

This is routine. Unfortunately, my life has become routine since the divorce.

It has been almost four months since I signed those papers, completely pulling myself out of Ginny's life. We never had a chance to have kids, so that wasn't an issue, but though I'm still young, I wish we could have.

I make my way up to the office I still share with Draco Malfoy and unlock the door. I'm always to work well before Draco is, simply because the prat can't seem to leave his flat if his hair is less than perfect in his eyes.

I am in the office, left alone to my thoughts for quite some time before my partner busts through the door, sporting that look I've come to know as Draco's _Walk of Shame_ look.

It's Monday morning and every Friday Draco goes out for drinks with Blaise and Pansy and whatever other suckers they can con into going along and the trio essentially fall off the face of the planet for the weekend, getting lost in their world of booze and sex.

In traditional Draco Malfoy fashion, he doesn't say anything. He doesn't usually on Monday mornings, as I'm sure he was in some poor girl's bed until about twenty minutes ago.

And by the looks of it, she put up a fight while he was trying to dress.

Draco's dark blue jeans are slung lowly on his hips (and the fly is down, not that I'm looking) and his dress shirt is only half tucked in and buttoned only to the third from the top button, exposing more of his chest than most would care to see. His hair is disheveled and his eyes are glazed over—proving my suspicions of a weekend of drinking to be accurate.

"Long weekend?" I ask, obviously joking, though I think Draco may have missed that.

"Shove it, Potter."

I laugh lightly to myself and turn my attention to the paperwork on my desk.

About half an hour goes by of me studying my paperwork on the assignment Ron and his partner went out on to stop a potential threat to the wizarding world in his tracks, or rather, _her _tracks before Draco decides to talk, and talk he does.

"It was amazing, you know. I really can't recall the last time I was able to say that about someone, but I can assure you, I almost didn't want to get out of bed to come here."

"You said almost the exact same thing last week," I remind him.

"Oh. Well, maybe if you got out and found someone to shag you wouldn't be so sour about my trysts."

"I'm not sour. I just don't exactly enjoy hearing about your sexual endeavors every Monday."

"Jealous, Potter?"

"Not even a smidgen."

"Oh, I believe you are, Potter," Draco sneers. "In fact, it probably wouldn't be too far of a leap to say you probably haven't shagged anyone since your divorce from the SheWeasel."

"Shut your mouth, Malfoy."

"Or what?"

Draco and I may have grown past the schoolboy hatred we had for one another after the war enough to be partners, however, this was also common for us.

Sometimes it would just happen. An argument would ensue and would usually result in one of us either A) leaving the office for lunch to get away from the other or B) threatening to hex the other's bollocks off and that would be the end of that.

"You really haven't changed much, have you, Potter? You still think you're better than me, always have. You're not, you know."

"I never claimed I was, Malfoy. Don't insinuate."

Malfoy scoffs and turns his attention to fixing his appearance.

I can't help but look at Draco as he tucks his shirt back in and zips his fly and fixes his hair. He makes disheveled look like Calvin Klein designed his outfit. It's just unfair. If I came to work sporting the _Just Shagged _look, I would more so end up looking like something I ran over with a car.

Once Draco is finished primping, I can tell he noticed me looking because he is just about to open his mouth to say something when his long-time friend comes charging through the door.

"Draco! You nearly gave me a heart attack last night! Do you never think to tell me before going home with someone? I thought something happened to you!" Pansy yelps, giving Draco the death stare of the century.

"Sorry, this one was just too delicious to pass up," Draco wiggles his eyebrows suggestively before smiling a million dollar smile.

"I bet, but you cant—Oh! Harry! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there! How are you?"

I pick my head up from the pen I had been staring at to avoid eye contact with Draco and smile a weak smile.

"Fine, Pansy. And yourself?"

"Very well, thanks," she smiles back before turning back to continue yelling at Draco. "Oh, Merlin help the next unlucky bloke to take your pompous arse home!"

Draco's eyes widen to the size of average golfballs and it takes me a moment to figure out why. Pansy said 'bloke'. As in man.

I know Draco expects me to say something, but I don't. There isn't a need to. Draco's preferences are his business, not mine. Plus, Ron, Hermione and I had a running joke that we were fairly convinced Draco was bent anyway.

* * *

Hey, guys! So, I wasn't originally going to post this story yet, but because I have it written, and I have nothing written for my other Fanfictions, I figured I would so I could ask ya'll a question.

If you have ANY ideas for either "The Bartender" or "Shallow Secrets" or anything you'd like to see happen in those stories, PLEASE feel free to private message me about them. This isn't something I usually do, but I'm asking for ya'lls help with this. I'm completely in a rut and I have no idea what to write. ):

And because we're on the topic of my other Fanfictions, I would like to apologize for not writing. I've just got a case of Writer's Block. Sorry, again!

Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed the first chapter of my new Fanfiction. And because people enjoyed that in "The Bartender" I made Lissa NOT like everybody else portrays her (meaning; I made her nice) I pretty much did the same thing with Pansy in this. Hope you like it!

And thank you all for being so supportive of me and my fanfictions over the past three years! Your support means the world to me!

xoxo,

K.J


	2. Chapter 2

_**The Way I Are**_

* * *

Chapter Two

* * *

"Come on, Potter, let me hear it," Draco says as we walk down to the copy room of the offices a little over a week after Pansy outed Draco.

Pansy forebode Draco from going out drinking this past weekend and I could tell Draco didn't take to it well.

"Let you hear what, Malfoy?" I ask, focusing on the papers in my hand as opposed to the blonde to my right.

"You heard Pansy last week. She aired all of my dirty laundry and you honestly have nothing to say?"

I shrug. Oh, I have plenty to say. But I would never use something so personal as Draco's sexuality against him. That's almost the equivalent to using my parents against me.

"Well, come on, out with it," Draco pesters, cutting me off just as I'm about to open the door to the copy room.

"I have nothing to say, Draco," I say, hoping he'll leave it alone.

Though, in true Malfoy fashion, he doesn't.

"Sure you do. How about something pertaining to how 'bent' I am. Or maybe something about the many, many men who've taken me home in just this year alone?" Draco grabs the front of my shirt with both hands, lifting me just slightly off the floor as he drags me into the copy room and shuts the door tightly. "Why won't you say something? I've given you all of the ammunition, all you need to do is fire."

"It would make me no better than you if I did. I won't stoop so low as to mock your preferences in men. Honestly, Draco, who cares? The Wizarding World is so widely accepting of gays and you're pretty much taunting me into going against what I believe to be right. That would be almost as disgraceful as mocking Seamus for being Irish, which I would never do."

"How so?"

"Seamus was born Irish. You can't help being gay. Plus, seeing as you've come into work, sporting the _Just Shagged _look, I wouldn't doubt you're," I pause slightly, laughing lightly at myself. "slightly above average in bed."

Malfoy seems taken aback, but he recovers quickly.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

I don't reply. I spin around and begin copying the papers I had to copy with the Muggle copy machine that the office brought in in an attempt to create less diversity from the Muggles working in the building as clerks.

I turned around for another reason, though that's something I'd never share with Malfoy. I am blushing. Blushing and the room is starting to get very, _very _hot.

"I bet you would, wouldn't you?" Draco presses, coming closer and closer to me. "Yeah, you'd like to know what those men that take me home every weekend get to feel. Maybe that's why you haven't said anything. Well, my apologies, Potter, but I only shag men who, on first glance, look too delectable to pass up. I've had the displeasure of knowing you since I was eleven."

* * *

"Pansy, that makes no sense," I say, handing Pansy a mug full to the brim of coffee.

Pansy and I have become sort-of friends in the time Draco and I have been partnered. Which is how she ended up at my flat, having coffee with me.

"It's the truth, Potter! He may not act like it, but as sure as my name is Pansy Francis Parkinson, Draco Malfoy is utterly in love with you," Pansy repeats herself, sipping her coffee as she sits at my kitchen counter.

I'm standing across from her, deflecting her comments, knowing it's just _not possible._

"You're crazy, Pansy," I say, popping a peach flavored hard candy in my mouth.

"And you're dense."

I roll my eyes and suck hard on the candy, ignoring Pansy's eyebrow raise.

"Malfoy does nothing but argue with me. Particularly on Monday mornings when he finally crawls out of bed and detaches himself from whatever bloke he'd been with the previous night."

"Harry, you're not with us on the weekends. Every man Draco has gone home with in the past nearly two years since you two have been partnered has either had black hair or emerald green eyes. He even went so far as to shag a man purely because he had a scar on his forehead. He said it was from a dog bite when he was younger. It was no lightening bolt, but it was a scar nonetheless."

"Then he just wants to shag me, not be with me. There is a difference," I point out, laughing at the sheer fact that I'm even having this conversation right now.

"Ah, but you see, Potter, that's where you're wrong. Well, you're right about the difference between wanting someone to sleep next to and wanting someone to sleep with. But your wrong about Draco. Being his business partner and his friend are two totally different animals. And especially because you're the poor bloke he fancies, he wouldn't let you get too close. At least not close enough to let you figure out his uncontrollable want for you."

Pansy takes another sip of her coffee, smiling smugly at my shocked expression that had to be there by now.

"Harry, I have a strong, _strong _feeling that Draco can't and won't stop his feelings for you until he gets some kind of closure. Either you miraculously fall madly in love with him, or one of you switches professions," Pansy says, eying me up. "And plus, it's not like you're at all unattractive. I still think Ginny is crazy for filing for divorce. Even if it was justifiable in means. The simple fact that you could give Dray one look and he'll melt is enough to prove he wants you in every way possible."

"You're so sure, aren't you, Pansy?"

"He told me himself, Potter. I believe his exact words were, 'I can't work with him. Especially when every movie about sexual tension in an office setting ultimately ends in rough sex on a desk. Not that I'm expecting it to happen with Potter. He's as straight as they come. No matter how much I wish I could bend him.'"

"So, Draco wants to shag me on his desk? Who'da thunk it?"

"There's a fine line between love and hate."

"But Draco Malfoy is not _in love _with me," I shoot back, spitting out the peach candy I'd been sucking on as when they get too small, I can't chew on them. It makes me cringe.

"He's head over heels for you, Potter."

Pansy gets up from her stool, slides her mug off the counter and carries it over to the sofa across from my television. I grew up with Muggle appliances, therefore, I had to have some of them.

"What'daya say we watch a movie, Potter?"

I take a seat next to her and turn the television on, scrolling through channels to find a decent movie to watch with my new found buddy, Pansy.

Every movie I suggested, Pansy sneered at, and every chick-flick Pansy suggested, I turned down. Vicious circle.

Eventually we settle on a movie about Mixed Martial Arts. Neither of us are very happy with it, but because neither of us are happy with it, it's what we settle on.

"This movie actually isn't that bad," Pansy observes, sipping the last of her coffee before placing the mug on my coffee table.

"I suppose. I'd rather watch a movie about sexual tension in the office, though," I wink at Pansy, laughing slightly.

"Harry, I'm going to ask you for a favor."

I nod, letting Pansy go on.

"Please don't give Draco any problems at work now that you know his feelings. I shouldn't have told you, and I know that, but Draco is incredibly dense sometimes too, and he needs a little push," Pansy pleads, turning so she's completely facing me.

I laugh slightly. I know Pansy doesn't know why, but to me, it's quite comical, really.

It takes me a minute to stop laughing, actually. And by the look on Pansy's face, she can't figure out why.

"Pansy, I wouldn't do that. Draco isn't as unpleasant to work with as he was when we began working together. He's actually tolerable now. Enjoyable even—on a good day."

"That doesn't add up, Potter. You, Harry Potter, are sitting in front of me saying Draco Malfoy is enjoyable to work with," Pansy scrunches her eyebrows together, her face lighting up when she realizes what I am trying to hint at. "Unless—"

"Unless I'm really not as straight as they come."

* * *

Hello, lovelies! I literally had to hold myself back from uploading this chapter so many times throughout this week, but I wanted to wait to stretch it out as much as I could!

I hope ya'll enjoyed this and will review!

I hope you have a wonderful week and I'll be back again next week! (:

xoxo,

K.J


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Way I Are**_

* * *

Chapter Three

* * *

"Good morning, Harry," Emily, the desk clerk at the office says, as she does every morning, smiling brightly.

"Good morning, Emily," I smile back, pushing through the glass door that leads to the elevators after Emily buzzes me in.

I make my way up to my office, scaring even myself when I realize my partner had actually gotten to work before me. Unusual.

It's Monday morning about two weeks after my movie night in with Pansy, and per her request, I haven't said anything about anything she said to Draco. Though, I have been starting to pick up on little things. Things I would have originally just written off as being friendly, I now see as Draco's attempts to get me interested.

"Why so jumpy, Potter?" Draco asks, looking up from the _Prophet _issue he'd been reading.

"You're never here before me. What changed?"

"Pansy told me she was going to stop in this morning. She said she 'missed her best mate' which I think is a load of you-know-what, but hell, what do I know?" Draco laughs, smiling up at me.

"Why do you think that? Even I know Pansy sticks to the truth. At least I hope so," I say, recalling what Pansy told me.

"I think Pansy wants to see you more than me, if I'm being honest," Draco stands, leaning up against the front of his desk, about two feet away from me, looking pretty darn good for being up earlier than I think he's ever been in his life.

When I told Pansy that I'm not as straight as they come, I wasn't kidding. I'd known I was interested in men since about a month before Ginny and I divorced. And once we were officially divorced, I had experimented with a few different men, all Muggles. Not that anyone really knows that. Besides Pansy of course, and Hermione who'd figured it out on her own.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Oh, please, Potter. She talks to you more than she does me anymore. And I know you had her over your flat a couple of weeks ago. You two are all buddy-buddy now. But I'm actually okay with that. I like to think of you and I as pretty good acquaintances, friends even. I'm glad we're finally getting past the animosity from school. It's not worth ruining the rest of our lives," Draco adds, making me wonder how he went from the Draco Malfoy I knew in school to the one standing across from me in only a couple of years.

"Well, Malfoy, I'm glad you think of us as friends, because I like to think the same. We've worked as partners, pushing paperwork and doing outfield investigation when necessary for almost two years. That means we have to trust each other, at the very least. And I do. Ron thinks I'm crazy because I have mentioned once or twice that I do trust you, but I do. I have to—my life depends a lot on trusting you."

Draco was about to open his mouth to say something, but Pansy coming through the door with a brown paper bag, shouting, "I have bagels!" at the top of her lungs interrupted him.

"Morning, Pansy," I say politely, taking the bag from her and placing it on my desk.

"Sorry, boys, did I walk in on something I shouldn't have?" Pansy asks, noticing that Draco is now biting the inside of his cheek, keeping very quiet.

"No, I'm just tired because somebody told me to be at work a lot earlier than I ever show up," Draco laughs falsely, pushing past me before taking a bagel out of the bag on my desk and biting into it harshly.

"_Right_," Pansy says, patting Draco's arm before looking at me in a way that says, 'You will tell me later, or I'll have your balls in a vice grip'. Yes, Pansy has a look like that. "So, how are my two favorite men this morning?"

"Pansy, you have a boyfriend—shouldn't Blaise be one of your favorite men?" I laugh, knowing Blaise and Pansy had a strange relationship.

"Should be. But isn't. Certain parts of him, I love. Others, I hate. Eh, what can you do?"

Draco rolls his eyes and excuses himself to the restroom, leaving Pansy and I to talk privately.

"Have you said anything to him? He looked like he'd just seen a ghost when I walked in," Pansy whispers, coming closer to me so she could talk quieter and still be heard.

"No, but I think _he_ might have been about to say something when you walked in. We were talking about how we trust each other," I say, smiling lightly. "Pans, over the last couple of weeks, I've been feeling a lot more for Draco than I would have ever imagined, but it's getting more and more intense as I talk to him more."

I can't say I don't find Draco attractive. I absolutely do. Enough to have gotten a little too hot when we were in the copy room and much too hot and bothered after Pansy left my apartment the night she said Draco wanted to shag me in our office.

"I have an idea. But it's devious. But then again, I was in Slytherin for a reason. Come with us out for drinks on Friday night. Who knows? You might get lucky."

"Pansy, you have a very frightening twinkle in your eye right now. But I like where you're going."

* * *

"So, Potter, what made you come out with us this weekend?" Draco asks, throwing back a shot on Friday night.

"I was invited," I reply, taking a sip of my bottle of beer that was in front of me.

"But nobody forced you. And you're sitting here with me while Pansy and Blaise dance on each other until they go home together, leaving us alone. Why's that?"

I can tell Draco is starting to get a little tipsy, and I am hoping he stays only slightly tipsy so I can talk to him more.

"I wanted to come. We've never spent time outside of work together. I'd like to. Friends see each other outside of work," I say, stopping myself before I say too much.

"Well, I hope you don't mind if I leave you all by your lonesome if I find someone who wants to take me home. Pansy hasn't let me get any for the last few weekends, which is just cruel and unusual punishment."

"Actually," I begin, worrying if I'm actually going to do this. "I do mind."

Okay, that's not exactly what I planned on saying, but I guess it still worked.

"Oh, you do, do you?"

"I do. I came out tonight to learn more personal, nitty gritty details about my partner. So, start talking."

Draco seems taken aback, but he downs another shot like nothing, laughing as his Adam's apple bobs, pulling the drink down his throat.

"Why are you so curious, Potter? I know this is your first bar night with us, but I'll tell you how things usually work. Pansy and Blaise drink somewhere between six and ten shots each and they dance until they're ready to go home, and they do, leaving me to find someone of my own to go home with. And I always do," Draco says, doing a half-smile that made my heart beat just a little bit faster.

"Oh, really? So, which of these fine men are you looking into currently?"

"Ah, ah, ah, Potter. That's never determined until I'm about to walk out the door."

Draco and I spend the next two hours talking and drinking, laughing about an hour in when Pansy and Blaise give us the heads-up that they're leaving.

Pansy whispers in my ear that she's getting some, so I better too, which makes me laugh harder than I probably should have.

"So, if you're sitting here with me, how are you expecting to find a man to take you home?" I ask Draco, popping the top off of my third beer bottle of the night.

"They usually find me. And the man sitting in that booth over there has been eyeing me up for the last hour."

"And are you looking into leaving me for him?" I ask, laughing to myself, at the question itself.

"He's not my type. I can already tell. I'm not interested," Draco answers, winking at me.

"Well, then maybe you'll finally tell me who _you're _interested in going home with tonight?"

"I'm interested, but I know the person I'll most like to take home wouldn't want me, so it's a lost cause. So, I might just leave tonight without getting any. Pitty, really. Maybe another night," Draco says, leaving me at a loss for words.

Draco stands, throws back another shot then makes his way through the crowds of dirty dancing folks before exiting the bar.

Just as I'm following him, I take a quick look at the man Draco had no interest in going home with that had been eyeing him up.

Blonde hair, brown eyes, definitely no scars. Maybe Pansy was right.

* * *

Hey, everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please, please review if you did! Thank you so much for reading!

As always, I hope you enjoyed and will review. (:

xoxo,

K.J


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Way I Are**_

* * *

Chapter Four

* * *

"I'm telling you, Pansy, he was flirting with me!" Draco shouts while on the phone with Pansy the morning after their bar night that included Harry.

Draco has, since working in the office that incorporated Muggles, gotten used to using a telephone and a few other appliances.

"Maybe. Is he coming out with us again tonight?" Pansy asks.

"Yeah, but he said he's going to meet us at the bar. Pans, I need you to talk to him. I need to know if he was intentionally flirting with me or just being Potter, please," Draco begs, in a very un-Dracolike manor.

"Draco, you do realize that you could always ask him, yeah? I'm sure you'd probably run away screaming after you did, but you could."

"No. No, absolutely not. Please, Pansy? I'm begging you."

* * *

"Of course I was flirting with him! You really weren't kidding when you said Malfoy is dense," I shriek into the phone to Pansy.

"Well, I know that, and you know that, but Draco doesn't seem to. Harry, I think you need to be more blatant tonight. Now, I'm not telling you to outright tell him you want to take him home, but at least make it so there's no mistaking your flirting for being Potter, as Draco says."

I nod, thinking hard about how I'm supposed to go about being more blatant with my flirting with Draco, while still being discrete. Not quite sure that's really even possible. But hey, I at least need to try.

As I think about how on Earth to go about approaching things with Draco tonight, I decide to hop in the shower and begin getting ready for the interesting night ahead of me.

* * *

"You're late, Harry," Pansy hisses as soon as I get to the club we decided to go to, rather than a bar, grabbing my arm and dragging me to the far left side, across from where I could see Draco. "Draco is being chatted up by a bloke he seems to be interested. I swear to you, Harry, if all of the work I've put into getting the two of you to clear the sexual tension goes up in flames tonight, I will not be happy—at all. So I suggest you go over there and do something to make Draco switch his attention to you."

I laugh quietly at Pansy's desperation, but nod anyway, heading over to where I see Draco.

Instead of approaching him directly, I stand behind him, waving the bartender over to me so I could order a drink.

"What can I get for you?" the bartender—a man, looking to be about my age with dark red hair and green eyes asks.

"A beer, thanks," I reply, picking the money I owed for the drink, sliding it across the bar to the tender once he hands me my drink.

I pop the cap off and take a long swig of it, looking out of the corner of my eye at Draco. What I see makes me slightly sick. Draco is clearly throwing himself at this poor bloke, who seems to be interested enough, but not as interested as Draco is.

The man has chestnut brown hair with bright green eyes. He is quite thin and spindly, but I guess he's attractive enough. Apparently enough for Draco, too.

I can't tell whether or not Draco noticed I'm behind him, but rather than waiting around for him, I lean against the bar, looking out over the crowd.

My eyes meet with a tall, dark, and handsome man who abandons the woman in a too-short dress he'd been dancing with to come over to me.

"Care to dance?" he asks with an American accent.

I nod, following him out to the crowd, right in front of where Draco sits with the brunette.

As I dance—not very appropriately, might I add—with the American man, my eyes catch Pansy's, who is—of course—dancing with Blaise.

"_What are you doing?_" she mouths, guiding Blaise's hands from her waist to her bum.

I nod my head towards where Draco is, noticing as I do that he's no longer talking to the brunette—he's looking at me.

"So, what's your name?" the man pressed against my back asks.

I tilt my head back so he can hear me and reply, "Harry. And you?"

"Bailey."

We don't say much more, aside from a few dirty comments as we dance together. Bailey slides his hands from on my hips to my thighs and back again.

* * *

"Pansy, what is he doing?!" Draco hisses, referring to his raven-haired partner dancing with some stranger.

"The same thing you were doing. He's just moving faster," Pansy answers, laughing to herself.

Draco is not laughing. He's not laughing at all.

"Dray, let Harry enjoy his night. You found your bed partner for the night, and so did Harry. Let it be."

Draco pulls at his long blonde hair before exhaling deeply.

"Fine," he says, heading back over to the brunette he'd been talking to.

"You know, I never caught your name," the brunette says, laying a hand on Draco's knee.

"You can call me Drake," Draco replies, giving the brunette the name he always gives his 'bed partners', as Pansy would say. "And yours?"

"Jeremy."

Draco smiles a half smile, and takes a sip of his whiskey, the burn warming him up.

Draco and Jeremy continue to drink and talk for about another hour until Draco gives Jeremy an offer he can't—and won't—refuse.

"Let's get out of here," Draco whispers in Jeremy's ear as he stands, downing the rest of his whiskey.

Jeremy smirks but nods, setting down the money he owes the bartender for both his and Draco's drinks and follows Draco outside. He follows him outside, down the block, across the street and up to Draco's fifth floor flat.

* * *

I watch as Draco leaves with his brunette and my stomach turns, but then I remember that Bailey seems to be exactly what I need.

"Harry, I think maybe we should get away from this club. Away from this club and back to my place? Or yours, if you'd prefer." Bailey offers, pressing himself closer to me, as he tucks his hands into my front jeans pockets.

"I think that's a very good idea," I say back, turning around so I'm facing him. "But I have to let my friend know that I'm leaving so she doesn't butcher me at work on Monday. Wait for me outside?"

Bailey nods and pushes his way through the throngs of people while I find Pansy.

"I'm leaving with Bailey, the guy I've been dancing with. I'll fill you in completely tomorrow. Come to my place around noon. I'll probably be back by then."

Pansy smiles deviously before waving me away to go do sinful things with Bailey. And I intend to do just that.

* * *

"Well, that was pretty incredible," Bailey mumbles, out of breath and only half covered by the dark navy blue sheet that is now barely even on the bed anymore.

The comforter is on the floor, along with both of our clothes, and though we started out with six pillows on the bed, we're now left with one pillow and a pillow case, not on the pillow. And three hours, four rounds of _very _enthusiastic sex, and a couple more hours to shower and sleep later, it's nine a.m.

Usually, with one-night-stands, you don't stick around and chat with the person you fell into bed with the night previous. However, with Bailey, it didn't feel like a one-night-stand. It felt like I'd known him for years, yet I'd only met him about nine hours before.

"I think I have to agree," I say, lying on my back next to, but not too close to Bailey.

"Harry, can I see you again? Usually when I take someone home, I tell them not to let the door hit the on the way out. And when I actually start seeing someone, I usually don't have sex with them beforehand. But I do think I'd like to at least make you some hangover breakfast, at least if you're suffering the way I am."

I think for a moment, and decide I think it's probably not such a bad idea if I let Bailey make me some pancakes. And maybe, just maybe, I'll let him see me again.

"I'd like that."

* * *

I know I've been M.I.A again for a couple of weeks, but I REALLY like this chapter. I hope you guys like this chapter too! Sorry if there's spelling errors or grammatical errors. It's a little past one in the morning, and I just finished this chapter now. & I'm starting on the next one now! (:

Review, please!

xoxo,

K.J


	5. Chapter 5

_**The Way I Are**_

* * *

Chapter Five

* * *

"Harry, I told you I would be very, very angry with you if you or Draco went home with anyone besides each other, but I think I was wrong. Maybe this will be better. Maybe because you both went home with someone else, it'll amp up the tension between you two and Draco may just get his wish about office sex," Pansy says over lunch the day after I went home with Bailey.

"Pans, what if I told you I agreed to see Bailey again."

"See him as in see him again in his bedroom or see him again as in a date?"

"Maybe both. I don't know. Pans, this morning, I was lying next to an incredibly gorgeous, incredibly exhausted man, and I can tell you right now, I've never had a one-night-stand make me pancakes. Bailey is different. And because Draco obviously left me hanging last night, why can't I give it back to him?"

* * *

Draco groans and rolls over, reaching for the clock on his bedside table. _12:15_ _p.m._

He attempts to block out the sunlight creeping in from his window with a pillow, to no avail.

Finally, after about five minutes of groaning and wishing he could just fall back asleep, Draco rolls—literally rolls—out of bed, falling onto the floor in a crumpled mess.

Draco makes his way out to his kitchen to fill up a glass of water, but is distracted when he notices a piece of sticky paper stuck to the refrigerator.

_Drake, I had a really great night with you last night. I had to leave early because of work. I'll be seein' ya. Jeremy. _

Draco rips the sticky paper off of the refrigerator and tosses it into the bin. He fills up a glass with ice water and downs about half of it in one go.

Without even realizing it, Draco picks up his mobile phone and dials Pansy Parkinson's number, hoping she'll answer because he sure has a _lot _to tell her.

* * *

"Wow, two nights in a row, someone doesn't waste any time," Bailey breathes against my lips, unbuttoning his way down my shirt before tossing it to the floor by his kitchen.

"So what if I don't? I had a particularly interesting lunch today with a good friend, and I have work tomorrow morning, so now's as good a time as any," I say back, helping him shimmy out of his jeans.

"I think I have to agree."

Bailey is now down to just his pants and I'm down to my jeans, and we don't waste any time losing the rest of our clothing. And two hours later, we're right back where we were just this morning.

* * *

Unfortunately for Draco Malfoy, Monday morning comes far too quickly for his liking. And somehow it sneaks up on him every week.

But despite his wanting to roll back over and stay in bed, he gets up, this time without someone else lying beside him and begins his process of getting ready.

About an hour and a half later, Draco is standing outside the office building, not being excited to go inside after seeing Harry dance with that guy at the club on Saturday night.

Every time Draco has closed his eyes in the last twenty-four hours, he's seen _that guy _touching Harry and whispering in his ear and pressing himself as close as humanly possible to Harry's backside.

Draco groans aloud and trudges inside, up the stairs and into his office—although, somehow he wishes he hadn't. Harry was already there—as usual—chatting aimlessly with someone on the phone.

"Morning, Draco," Harry says before going back to his phone call.

Draco nods in acknowledgment before sitting down at his desk, across from Harry.

Draco doesn't begin the paperwork he was meant to start on Friday, but put off until now right away. He instead, tries to be discrete when he stares at Harry while he's on the phone.

"No, honestly, this weekend was incredible. I let go for once and really had a great time," Harry says into the phone, still talking to the same person he had been. About a minute goes by before Harry continues talking, "Yeah, Friday. Right after work."

Harry chats with the person on the other end of the call for a few more minutes before saying his goodbye and hanging up the phone.

"Sorry about that. That was Pansy. She says hello," Harry tells Draco, oblivious to the jealousy burning a hole in the pit of Draco's stomach.

Draco had originally planned on being more subtle when he asked about _that guy _that Harry was dancing with on Saturday night, but what actually ends up coming out is far from subtle.

"Who was the guy?" Draco blurts out, mentally kicking himself for that one.

"I'm sorry?" Harry asks, looking at something on his desk.

"The one from Saturday night. The one who was practically about to rip your clothes apart in the middle of the club," Draco replies, being slightly more blunt than he intended.

"His name is Bailey. Why do you care?"

"I was just curious. You practically flaunted it right in front of me. How long did it take for him to ask you to go home with him?"

Harry sucks in a breath.

"I don't see why that's any of your concern. As I recall, you left with someone too."

Without addressing what Harry said about Draco leaving with Jeremy, Draco says, "What were you saying about Friday?"

"Bailey and I are going for drinks," Harry replies easily.

"Oh, didn't anyone tell you, Harry, people you go home with are meant for a good shag, not reoccurring dates," Draco says smugly, trying not to think about how Jeremy left him a note only a few hours prior to this joy-filled conversation.

"Maybe I don't want Bailey to just be a 'good shag'. And anyway, it doesn't really matter anymore seeing as I've already seen Bailey again since Saturday. Last night."

Draco doesn't know what to say back to that. In fact, for once, he's completely speechless.

* * *

"Well, was he even the least bit attractive?" Hermione asks, sitting herself down at the island in my kitchen.

"Not to me, but apparently to Draco he was," I reply, referring to the man Draco went home with on Saturday.

"What about this Bailey? Yes, Pansy told me," she laughs, smiling at me.

"Now _he's _attractive."

"And you're seeing him again? Sorry, Pansy needed someone to be a girl with, and she can't do that with you, Draco or Blaise."

"Yes, I'm seeing him again on Friday. It's strange though, because I know next to nothing about him apart from the fact that he wears boxers, not briefs and his bedsheets are navy blue," I laugh to myself, taking a sip of a glass of water I had in my hand.

"Well, that's... good, I suppose. Maybe you'll learn more about him when you go out on Friday. Or you'll just relearn that he wears boxers, not briefs and his bedsheets are navy blue."

* * *

"Why do you care so much?!" I shout at Draco in the office early Wednesday morning.

Tuesday went by in what felt like a lifetime in only eight hours because Draco and I said nothing to each other. Nothing at all.

But as soon as I walk in the door Wednesday morning, all hell brakes loose.

"Because he seems like the kind of guy who will hump and dump you faster than you can blink," Draco shouts back, slamming his hand down on his desk.

"What's it to you? So what if that _does _happen? Why do you even care what happens with Bailey?!"

"Potter, you're my business partner. I need you to be in your best state of mine, especially if we have to actually go out on a case rather than just doing paperwork, like we have been. If you're in a funk because this guy got you in bed and then disappeared, my life could be in jeopardy."

"Oh, so, as usual, it's all about you? Well, let me let you in on a little secret, Malfoy. The world doesn't revolve around you."

* * *

Hey, ya'll! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hate to be repetitive, but PLEASE review. I haven't gotten a review on this Fic since the second or third chapter and I really would like some feedback.

And just to make anyone who's been reading my Fanfictions since my very beginning (Which I don't know if there's any of you left. If there is, please tell me! That would be awesome!) feel a little old, I started writing Fanfictions when I was twelve and I'm turning sixteen in three months. Cray cray, I swear.

Anyway, PLEASE review, it always makes my day! And since I went back to school on Thursday, I need a little bit of a pick-me-up. Especially because I have Geometry homework to do. :\ Which I have no desire to do.

Thank you all sooo much for your support. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

xoxo,

K.J.


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